My reading list for 2020

Just started the second book in the NOT ALONE: The Contact trilogy.

It felt like the right time to enjoy enough, especially knowing the books are long, and I felt like a change of pace and some SciFi.

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I think I have stated here before, that my preference is for ebooks these days.
Well that is true, but I have been feeling the sameness lately ... perhaps I have read too many with the same ereader in a row.

Usually I have a good mix of paperback, hardcover and ereader, but just lately I have mostly stuck to ebooks and just on my Paperwhite Kindle .. chiefly because it is frontlit and so gives the best reading experience.

However, it is the same black vinyl cover look, and starting to get daggy, and the only time I briefly see a cover, and in black & white (shades of gray), is when choosing the next one. That's one of the issues with superior e-ink ereader devices. I have even contemplated jailbreaking it, just so I can have the cover of the current ebook as the screensaver (off power image).

So there is something to be said for traditional books with their often lovely covers, and I certainly do miss that, and they have more of a feeling of uniqueness. Covers sometimes inspire your reading too, interacting with your imagination.

I guess that is why a tablet or iPad often appeals more to the average punter. Not that you regularly see the cover then either, but at least it is in color and often set on a nice library looking shelf.

With my e-ink reader, when I turn it on it starts straight at the page I left off. Which is handy but uninspiring.

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For those interested in 'DRM Free' ebooks, Smashwords is a good legit place to get them. Direct EPUB and MOBI etc downloads.

And to get you started with a good FREE one I read last year, a first for me for that author, that is thrilling and a bit over-the-top with a high body count etc, you could try the following. I almost read it in one sitting, and I was inspired to buy more by that author, and read book 10 in the series just the other day ... reading them in order.

The Protocol (A James Acton Thriller, Book #1) by J. Robert Kennedy (a FREEBIE) Sort of Indiana Jones crossed with Dan Brown.

As an interesting note, that book has also recently been released as an audiobook (not free) and apparently getting rave reviews. The narrator is the well respected R.C. Bray.

J. Robert Kennedy at Smashwords

Wolfbane (1957/1986) by C. M. Kornbluth and Frederik Pohl 3.5/5

Mysterious aliens - "Pyramids" -, godlike beings that are apparently invincible (they even survive direct hits from H-Bombs) and nearly omnipotent, have "stolen" Earth from the Solar System, turning The Moon into a new sun around which Earth and the Pyramids' planet rotate. The New Sun is rekindled every five years, and only some 200 million people are still alive, living on very limited resources. The society has become very ritualistic, puritanical, and people meditate a lot to save energy, and to achieve "Translation", which they think is like going to Heaven, but is really the Pyramids translocating those who have achieved a "blank mind", so that that they can be programmed to run their machinery like a biological computer, not remembering anything of their past (think The Matrix). But a small minority - the Wolves - refuse to be like the Sheep. One of the Sheep - Glenn Trobile - is Wolf material and joins the Wolves. But habits die hard, and when he meditates he's being "translated". But it turns out that unlike the Sheep he's actually able to remember his past, and from within his fluid filled tank which he shares with seven other "components" he tries to bring down the Pyramids.

This was the last collaboration between Kornbluth and Pohl before Kornbluth's untimely death in 1958 (he lived on borrowed time, though, having strained his heart too much carrying a heavy machine gun in WW2, and drinking and smoking too much. To survive he would have to give up booze and cigarettes, but that turned him into a slow witted dullard, so if one wants to be really romantic one could say he gave his life for Art).

Wolfbane was originally published in the October and November issues of Galaxy in 1957, but it contained some continuity and typographical errors which were fixed when it was released as a book in 1959.

So the book is rather marred by the dissonant style, both in writing style and Pohl's part being much more detailed, some of it good, but mostly it felt like padding (after all the original was very short for a novel). Pohl also explains the origin of the Pyramids, which was left a mystery in the original.

If I'd read the 1959 Ballantine version (which was the one version I couldn't find), I'd probably give it 4/5.

EDIT: Actually Kornbluth expanded the story by 20,000 words for the 1959, including the background of The Pyramids, so I don't really know which parts Pohl added in 1986

Thune's Vision, by Schuyler Hernstrom. This is a recent collection of fantasy short stories by an author who's gotten some good reviews, so figured I'd check it out and it's pretty good. The first story, about a duel between representatives of life and death, is the worst story in the book. Not that it isn't entertaining but the prose is a bit awkward, like the writer was still trying to figure out how to do atmospheric writing. Sentences all seem to follow a structure like "The adjective noun verbed his adjective noun adverb." The stories steadily improve as the book continues.

My favorite story was called The Ecology of the Unicorn, which is about a wizard trying to uncover the secret of immortality. It's full of very amusing details and written in a much more assured way than the first couple of stories, and it reads like a homage to Clark Ashton Smith or Jack Vance.

The collection wraps up with a longer story called The Saga of Adalwolf, which is a tragedy about a viking hero. It's got an appropriately grim mood and does "the Northern Thing" well.

I find most hyped up new writers underwhelming for one reason or another but Hernstrom is definitely one I will be keeping an eye on.

Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov
About 150-200? years have passed since the events in Foundation. The Foundation have grown from a single poor planet into a trading empire strong enough to be noticed by the dying Galactic Empire. A new Viceroy General of newly surrendered Siwenna, eager for conquest, sees the Foundation as an easy target.

I made a little boo-boo on the book order. :) I guess it's easy to make a mistake when reading a whole series readthrough for the first time. Next book will be Forward the Foundation, sequel to Prelude to Foundation.

Just finished The Maltese falcon, quite enjoyed it, can see the ground works of future crime/detective stories in it's pages, quick read as well.

Not sure what to read nest.

Henry Kissinger : Diplomacy
Paul Kennedy : The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers
You can learn a lot from these :P

Decided to start reading The Phantom of The Opera by Gaston Leroux

My reading list for 2020

I just finished reading the second book in the NOT ALONE: The Contact Trilogy, and I have to say WOW!

The second book was just as long as the first, perhaps longer, which is to say - quite long (one of the few complaints about the trilogy) ... but I read it much more quickly than the first.

What a great story ... especially great if you love a story about aliens and UFO and first contact ... and can handle lots of politics being intermingled. Quite a deep and thought provoking story too.

I am in a bit of awe of the author (Craig A. Falconer) ... what a great mind ... and looking at his photo at Amazon, I am even more so.

A couple of days ago, I bought the 5th book in the series ... upon its release.

I can certainly see why the trilogy is so hugely popular ... which was only a minor factor for me giving it a go ... but well worth it I can tell you.

The Trilogy is still available for purchase at only $0.98 AUD .... what a great buy. And the next two ebooks in the series are low priced.

I full heartedly recommend.

P.S. Some no doubt will (and have) found it long winded. To me and many others, that just adds to the depth and brilliance. In fact, I think it is one of the things that makes it stand out and mean it will linger long in my thoughts and memory.

My Kid Brother's Band, aka The Beatles, by Louise Harrison

Haven't finished it yet but it I will soon. It's a very engaging life story and a quick read. One of the very few books that makes me want to write a thank-you letter to the author.

The kid in the stripped pajamas,
It is a bad story in how it was written and not at all realistic.

Who the F#CK has the time to read?

[joke]I have to inject Nitrous oxide into the base of my skull just to keep up with the speed my games run at!

If it makes cars run faster it can make my brain run faster or something like that[/joke]

after you make high quality scans of it.

Two books so far this year:

- Torsten Diedrich: Paulus. Das Trauma von Stalingrad. Eine Biographie.
A biography of Friedrich Paulus, the general who commanded the 6th army which was encircled and destroyed at Stalingrad in 1942/43. About 450 pages long, the first 200 deal with Paulus' life before the battle, the next 100 with the events of 1942/43. The remaining sections deal with Paulus' captivity in the Soviet Union (including testimony at the Nuremberg war crimes trials in 1946), and finally his life in communist East Germany (from late 1953 until his death in January 1957) where be became a pawn for various East German propaganda initiatives.
The book is ok (a really irritating number of typos though), but I would only recommend it, if one is really interested in the subject, because in the end I didn't find Paulus that interesting a character, and the book takes some effort to finish. There doesn't seem to be an English translation, but for some reason Polish and Czech ones (Paulus. Trauma Stalingradu/ Trauma od Stalingradu).
Rating: 3/5.

- John Keay: India. A history.
What it says in the title, a history of India, from the lost Harappan civilizations to the 21st century. Very informative. I liked that the book devoted considerable attention to the early parts of Indian history and didn't suffer from excessive focus on the near-present. Lots of interesting descriptions of Indian architecture (temples, mosques, tombs etc.) as well. Definitely recommended.
Rating: 5/5.

Leviathan, Behemoth and Goliath by Scott Westerfeld

Obviously, it's a trilogy ^_^ It is set up in an alternate "steam-punk/biotech" universe, at the dawn of the first world war. It uses lots of real events (the murder of Archduke Franz-Ferdinand, the late entry of the USA in the war...) while of course intertwining with fictious events and characters.

The world is roughly divided into two "factions": the "darwinists", from the late Charles Darwin who enabled humanity to understand DNA and thus to manipulate it to create bio-engineered animals, some the size of a zeppelin-whale or even bigger ; and the "clankers", who only believe in the power of technology and machines and thus build mechas, steam-powered and oil-powered engines. Of course, some countries like Japan and the USA, like to take a bit of both worlds, but Europe is pretty strictly divided.

It mainly follows two characters: an english girl, Deryn Sharp, forced to dress like a man to pursue her dream to fly and to be a member of the Royal Air Force and Aleksandar, the son of the assassinated Archduke, forced to fly from german troops since he could be a pretendand to the Empire when the emperor will die.

Of course, they will meet and have lots of adventures all around the world, meeting famous people and taking part to incredible events.

I was a bit reluctant to pick up that trilogy, at first, because the covers are really a bit too much to my taste and also because it was labeled as "for kids and young adults". In a sense, it is true, but like (to my opinion at least) Harry Potter, even adults can immensely enjoy these series - I did!

Scott Westerfeld knows how to write Jules Verne-style books, with sometimes non-stop action, well-camped characters and a flowing imagination. I litteraly had to put on hold the other book I was reading until I finished that trilogy. Yeah, for me it was THAT good! So, I'll look for Westerfeld's other books, if they are of the same quality, I'm in for a treat!

So far in 2020: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/books_finished_in_2020/post9